Whats your opinion of this guy? I'm not sure if he is well known outside of the UK.

He uses supposedly scientific methods to reproduce what others present as mystical powers (mind control, remote viewing, telepathy and such). However, I'm not convinced his 'psychological techniques' aren't themselves suspect.

Could anyone who has seen his shows share with me if they think what he does is possible as he describes it?

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"I worry that, especially as the Millennium edges nearer, pseudo-science and superstition will seem year by year more tempting, the siren song of unreason more sonorous and attractive." - Carl Sagan, 1995

No links?

I've heard of him. I haven't seen his work other than the stuff they occasionally show here and there, but am somewhat interested in his techniques as well. You can get a small taste of what people think of his work (e.g., what his better videos or books are) at "The Magic Cafe" forums which I peek into once in a while (not sure if I'm allowed to link to it directly). He'd be under the 'Penny for your Thoughts' section.

Generally, I find mentalism to be a bit difficult - too much time is involved to produce what is generally not too spectacular. It's entirely possible that these techniques you refer to depend heavily on the charisma of the performer in question and less on practice and methods.

Re:sarongsong - you can see his work here: http://www.derrenbrown.co.uk/
This link is not an endorsement of him from me. I believe the site is multimedia heavy but has an html option.

I think that Uri Geller would disagree. He made a lot of money by making it look spectacular.

Anyway, I think Brown's a very good performer, at the least. He's done some pretty impressive stunts, and he has a subtly commanding stage presence. I don't think all of his effects are all that extraordinary, but he's at least on par with many other professional magicians. (After seeing Teller's rose illusion, I have a bit of trouble giving credit to any other magicians for anything.)

Look for the Russian Roulette video on Youtube. The chess one is neat, too. He did this heist thing, too, which sounds amazing, though I haven't seen any video of it.

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"It's turtles all the way down."

In my opinion, Geller is not a mentalist. Bending spoons and starting watches isn't the sort of material associated with psychological manipulation, although like all magic, there must be a some contribution.

From what I understand of it, mentalism tends to focus more upon guessing facts about people, making them behave a certain way (like hypnosis), or deploying mass characteristics to make predictions (e.g., if you ask 1000 people to pick a number, small whole numbers will be vastly overrepresented). This is more consistent with Brown's claims of lie detection, or being able to get out of paying bills (at least one restaurant bill) - and I don't mean stealing - I recall his claim was that he managed to convince the restaurant people that he didn't have to pay, somehow. He does do other stuff, but I think his claim to fame is based upon psychological principles.

Geller did lots of effects that were pure mentalism. Check out the James Randi thing on him. I'm thinking especially of the effect in which he turns his back and covers his eyes, about a minute in. A lot of his TV appearances were effects like that.

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"It's turtles all the way down."

I can't check the link from where I am, but I know, roughly, what you mean. He also did (does?) some tricks where he asks a volunteer to draw a picture, and then later, he duplicates it, which is clearly mentalism. However, he is best known for his cutlery bending, compass moving and watch stopping/starting and does not appear to do any serious mentalism on a regular basis. Thus, if I had to class him, I'd place him in the psychokinetic effects niche. Further, he does not appear to create any new effects, as far as I can tell. I could easily be mistaken, since I don't follow his work, and as far as I know, he doesn't put out materials like Brown.

Even granting your point, I'd say he's an exception. It's not easy to do magic in mentalism alone, given the effort involved. It can be cheaper, however, due to the simpler props required (if any).

Thanks for your caveat; almost gave up trying to make sense of all the theatrics.
Much better:
http://www.derrenbrown.co.uk/?flash=no

I noticed this as I watched more of his work. I really like it. He claims to be a pure mentalist, but then he goes and throws in some classic stuff from other areas of magic once in a while. It's very subtle, and I'm not always sure of what he's doing (there's this one with mini-rolls that is a variation on a classic card routine, but maybe he doesn't do it that way). If I were a better magician I'd maybe have a better idea. Anyway, I've changed my opinion from "very good" to "very, very good."

Still... I'd like to point you to Shadows. Probably the perfect piece of magic, something that will never be surpassed.

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"It's turtles all the way down."